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Talk:Petty Maids All in a Row/@comment-3041875-20170903152041
The Good – I'm glad that Rena ended up being the one to solve the case of the Devious Butlers, and having Theresa's finger sent to him was a good way to start the episode. I liked him using the smudges on the phone to decipher Theresa's code, showing he's not completely incompetent. All the bodies then being on display within the lair of the Devious Butlers created a good image. I suspected a few episodes ago that Juanita could be the killer, mostly because it'd be a nice mirroring to season one for the culprit to be a maid again, but I had no possible motive. Her having been friends with Justine, and the butlers all having stolen the jobs from any maids looking for work makes enough sense. It was clever, explaining why the ashes turned up at Ali's house instead of Joanna's (112). Satisfying enough conclusion to the story I'd say. Without much prior clues, it wasn’t as impactful as say, 112 when Justine was revealed to be the killer and to have been in love with Matthew; then, I was quite shocked and impressed at how well everything fit together. This time though, I'm still happy enough with the conclusion; it makes sense and still feels like a crafted tale, rather than a completely random finish. In fact, it feels quite special and organic because it's a story that could only really work for this show. Of course, I've also always liked Juanita's character, so I'm happy this only makes her character better. I'm glad Mary was sensible enough to get back-up before coming to the rescue. Theresa's death was pretty gruesome, and I'm glad Rena was also clever enough to tell Juanita he had the phone hidden somewhere, and the picture of him trapped in the coffin while it drew closer to the flames was a nice one. Strange actually having been a member, but just not being present for that meeting, was all very amusing. Of course, I also liked Liz telling the Devious Butlers to hurt her instead of Theresa, and later trying to protect Ali, showing she's continued to grow. It was nice that Josh and Ali got a brief interaction, and Juanita's appearance at Regina's house was quite amusing. Ben giving him some counsel was also nice, as well as them reflecting back on not liking Justine or her cooking (I liked how the French restaurant reference came back within Juanita's story). I enjoyed Josh realising what he wants to do in the end and getting excited over it; it suits his character and is something to take his mind off things. All cameos within the courtroom were good, including Tyson's slip-up, and mainly Aliza's. Greg came across a little more incompetent than I remember him being, but it suits his character to be the foe, and I liked Joe's speech to the court. I very much liked the ending, and both Val and Kathryn's motives make sense. I even considered them both to have been the Devious Butlers at some point, and while I was wrong about that, it's nice to see them teaming up in some form. The Bad - Minus the delivery of Theresa's finger, I didn’t really enjoy the teaser, if I'm being honest. It's now a little too late for me to care about Mary as a character, so I wasn’t interested in her flashes. Then, Rena was just so much of an oaf (see below) that it's hard to imagine what Mary even likes about him. I also didn't really like the silliness of the note or Rena's reaction that he supposes he better get dressed. Additionally, I know it's been established that the police department are less than helpful, but I still didn’t sit right with me that neither Rena or Mary (and later Ali) even considered going to someone for help, not even friends (it wasn’t clear then whether or not Rena knew Joe had been arrested). Luckily, Mary acted sensibly at the end and brought back-up with her. Observations - Speaking more about Rena's character, he's becoming such a clown that he's in danger actually of now just being annoying. As a series progresses, it becomes natural to play-on some of the established features of characters or even exaggerate them for humour. Generally, I've enjoyed Rena being even more foolish this season than in previous and I always thought that there should have been more focus on how bad he is at his job. Sometimes though, exaggerating characters like this can backfire, like with what happened in the later seasons of Friends (Ross became so whiny and Monica became so bossy and OCD, for example, that these parts of their characters just became ridiculous and grating). I wouldn’t say Rena's character is annoying me yet, but he was annoying in the teaser this episde. Does Ben feel guilty because he didn’t let Val come to the party? They're both hurting, so I wasn’t entirely sure what Val meant when she said he's treated her badly. While Val claiming to Ben that she can never get passed thinking he killed her sister makes sense, I still find it frustrating since he's innocent and because it's actually quite nice when they get along, like when comforting each other over the baby dying. Val admitting that it wasn’t fair Ben lost another child, as well as it not being fair that she lost one, was a nice moment, but she was just so despicable this episode that it's really hard to feel anything for her, other than root for her demise. Tyson's arrival had me wondering, who has been looking after him since their mother passed? And why did he even arrive at the moment? It seemed like he had urgent news or a big problem, but I guess not (well, he's always a problem). I wasn’t obvious to me that the police department was under Nadia's thumb (other than being a question within the "Unknown"). Rather, I just thought one of her men had gone undercover to plant the evidence, but I'm interested to see where that goes. Best Butler – Of course, it has to be Rena, since he was the star of the episode, even if parts of his character and story did annoy me a little. I'm glad he solved the case and it was generally quite exciting. While Rena may have had the strongest story this episode though, Josh was still my favourite character of it, as this has just been consistently a very strong season for him. Overall – Excellent episode, and satisfying conclusion to the Devious Butler's arc. I'm excited now to see more of Nadia's plot and to see what will result from Valentina and Kathryn teaming-up. 9.5/10.